“You can’t hide in here all night.”
Cassandra scoffed, “Watch me try.”
Steven smiled and told her that Luke was looking for her.
“I am sure he will be fine telling his story. I just can’t hear it anymore.”
“Are you sure you aren’t hiding from something else?”
Cassandra was confused and said that she didn’t know what he was talking about.
“You know, the other night we got kind of close…”
She put her hand up like she didn’t even want to go there, because Cassandra didn’t want to. “Let’s not go there. You have some woman in the other room, not to mention my brother. This is not a good time for that.”
Steven chuckled and agreed. Finally, she asked again what he was doing there, and he said that he was checking on her to see if she needed any help.
“Is that what you are doing?”
Steven agreed.
“Are you sure you are not trying to stop me from making a run for it?”
“Thinking about it, huh?”
Cassandra agreed, “If Dennis wasn’t here, I would have already been gone.” She wanted to ask him about the woman, but he didn’t volunteer anything, except to tell her that would be a shame.
“Do you think so? I doubt that anyone would even notice that I’m gone.”
“I noticed as soon as you left.”
Cassandra waved him off. “That’s because you have been steadily watching me. What are you playing at, with your girlfriend by your side?”
Steven shrugged and said that the woman was just a friend. Cassandra nodded her head and shook it when he acted like it was no big deal. It was a big deal to her, even if he didn’t seem all that worried about it. “Like I said, she is just here as a distraction. Did you notice how much your brother was eying us last time we came over for dinner? This way, Stella gets to act as a buffer.”
Cassandra liked the answer, but she didn’t want to like it. She didn’t want to care so much, but damned if she didn’t. She moved close to him and looked up into his dark green eyes. “Do you really think that we need a buffer?”
Steven hissed through his teeth and started to grab toward her, but she had moved out of his grip and was just out of reach, teasing him. “Yes, we do.”
She giggled and said that she was going back in. “Time for dessert.”
Chapter 12
Steven
Luke’s girlfriend took Steven’s date home, and the two guys were on the porch of Cassandra’s new place, and Luke wanted to thank him for helping his sister. He had already said something before, so it felt awkward to Steven, like there was more to what he was saying than what was initially said. He was trying to read through the lines, but he had no idea what his friend was getting at.
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. She is my friend too.”
Luke agreed, and then said something that had Steven wondering where it was going. The conversation felt like it was taking a turn, especially when he asked what it was all about. “You want her to be more than just your friend though, don’t you? The whole time I was worried about Nelson, it was you just as badly wanting my sister. I can see it now, and I don’t know what to say. Even when you brought a date, it was still my sister that got your attention. She is my sister, Steven!”
Steven hadn’t seen it coming, and he tried to calm his friend down. He said in all honesty that while Cassandra was attractive, they had done nothing and that wasn’t going to change. Not only did he say that it wouldn’t happen, hadn’t happened, but that he didn’t even want to have anything romantically to do with Cassandra. The last part was a lie, but more than not was the truth, so it came out easier than he thought it would.
“After everything that happened with Nelson, you’d think that I’d be better at looking for the signs.”
“Luke, you’re not listening. There is nothing going on with me and your sister. She is pretty and all, but that doesn’t mean that everyone wants to be with her.” Steven didn’t believe those words. Every man he knew looked at Cassandra in the same way that he did, with lust in their eyes. She had that sultry look, bedroom eyes, and a tight body that was curved in just the right places. It was hard to not look at her any other way. Steven knew that he was sensitive because of what had happened, but he needed Luke to stop thinking that about him.
“I just couldn’t take it if you did what Nelson did.”